


Pink Lemonade

by mintyfreshness



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Best Friends to Lovers, F/M, Pining, Sexual Content, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2019-11-29 00:10:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18215528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mintyfreshness/pseuds/mintyfreshness
Summary: another magical Friday night / I think I’ll sit this one at home / unusual, for me, I know / but please, go aheadin which Astrid and Hiccup are best friends and completely oblivious to what's right under their noses (until they're not)[lyrics from 'Pink Lemonade' by The Wombats]





	1. I think I'll sit this one at home

**Author's Note:**

> has this trope been done to death? yes
> 
> am I still going to post this? also yes

_another magical Friday night / I think I’ll sit this one at home / unusual, for me, I know / but please, go ahead_

 

“You _sure_ you don’t want to come?” Her head appears in his peripheral vision, causing him to disconnect from his pool of thoughts and look up from his slightly forgotten sketching.

“This is the third time you’ve asked,” he says in lieu of actually answering her question, rolling a pencil between his fingers as he spins round in his chair to face her.

“Yeah, well, this time is also the last because I gotta leave in a second.” Astrid’s body follows her head round the doorframe and Hiccup has to fight not to bite his lip as he takes her in. She’s not even _trying_ to look super nice, and she’s still the most beautiful thing he’s ever laid eyes on. Her smile lights up every room she walks into, the way she holds herself screams self-confidence, and that’s even before he considers her physical appearance.

“So? How about it, Haddock?” Has he mentioned how gorgeous her smile is?

He’s so tempted. Astrid’s other friends might not be like their close-knit gang, but they’re all still lovely people who were perfectly happy to sit and chat with him at her birthday party a few months ago. Given his introverted nature, they made him feel surprisingly comfortable, and Hiccup wouldn’t actually mind seeing them all again.

But one of the reasons that Astrid’s going out tonight is because Eret will most likely be there too, and Hiccup _really_ doesn’t want to sit and, in all likelihood, watch his best friend (and the woman he’s in love with) make out with another guy, particularly one who could use him as a toothpick if he so desired.

 

_I don’t wanna be / the blinking rabbit to your wildebeest / the jaded lover to his sex machine / you should go ahead_

 

Hiccup sighs. “Nah, I’m good. Toothless and I have a Netflix date planned and I’d hate to let him down. Go, have a good time.”

She laughs and the sound is music to his ears. “You spoil that cat far too much.”

“You try telling him no, see how you like him sitting on your face for hours at a time.” Said feline, currently occupying his pillow, stretches and _chirps_ innocently in Astrid’s direction.

“I know what you’re trying to do, bud, but it won’t work on her,” Hiccup tells him. Toothless simply yawns as if the conversation were boring him and settles back down again.

“You sure you’ll be okay, Hiccup? My friends really won’t mind, they ask after you all the time.”

 

_and please give those recycled house tracks my warmest regards / and lock the door if you’re home before the sun_

 

“I’m good, tonight. But thank you, Astrid,” he smiles. “Have a great time." 

“Thank you, Hiccup.” She walks over and leans down to plant a gentle kiss on his cheek.

“Make sure you lock the door when you get in, or we’ll spend another day tomorrow trying to coax Toothless back inside.”

“Oh he wouldn’t do that to us again, would you, gorgeous?”

Toothless offers a self-righteous purr (“ _me? As if I would_ ”) and the two humans laugh.

“I swear, sometimes he understands us like he speaks our language.”

“I think he’s secretly a sorcerer trapped in the body of a cat, unable to escape.”

“That would explain so much.” _T_ _hat smile again_. “Have a good night, Hiccup.”

“You too, Astrid.” And he holds his sigh in until he hears the door of their apartment shut behind her and her steps rescind down the corridor.

Toothless mewls at him.

“Yeah, I know bud. I’ll get over her tomorrow.”

 

* * *

 

It’s not late when he hears her key in the lock, only twenty-three minutes past eleven according to his phone. He’s not even got into his pyjamas yet; having a very snoozy cat resting languidly on his chest has prevented him from moving for the last few hours. He shuffles gently to a more upright sitting position as he hears her move around in the entryway to their apartment, nestling his cat down to sit on his lap rather than his ribcage. Toothless opens his eyes and gives him a quick nip for waking him but slinks off to curl up at the foot of his bed without further comment so Hiccup assumes he’s not in too much trouble.

His bedroom door creaks and he looks up to see Astrid’s face peeking through.

“Hey."  
  
“Hey, how was it? Did you have a good time?”

“Yeah, it was… alright, I guess."

“That doesn’t sound too convincing,” he notes, and she crosses the room to sit at the foot of his bed. Her hands reach out to stroke the expectant cat and she sighs. It's a couple of seconds before she finds what she wants to say.

“So Eret _was_ there in the end.”

 

_pink, pink lemonade / and does he kiss you ‘till your lips explode? / pink, pink lemonade / and does he take you places I can’t afford to go?_

 

“And…?"  
  
“And we were gonna go to our usual joint but Eret said he knew this swanky place a few streets over that he wanted to show us all, so we went there instead. And we were all sat round this fancy table and I thought it might be nice to chat and get to know him a bit better, because I knew he was into me a while back and I thought he might not be too bad and if I didn’t hate him something might come of it. And the others were kind of just doing their own thing – I mean, Alex and Ryan basically had their tongues down each other’s throats – so I spoke to him a lot, and he seemed okay, and eventually we ended up heading into the back corridor together.”

Hiccup tries not to swallow too loudly.

 

_pink lemonade you know I / know behind that sugar there’s only lies / lies, lies, lies_

 

“And we’re making out and his hands are wondering a bit, but not too much, and he’s mumbling about what he wants to do tonight, and I just realise that my heart’s not in it. I mean, he’s not unattractive and he seemed nice enough during our conversation but I felt _nothing_ kissing him.”

Hiccup’s heart flutters in hope. He silently tells it off. “And he didn’t…?”  
  
“No, he didn’t, to his credit. I told him I wasn’t really into it and he backed off pretty sharpish. And then I was just standing alone in the corridor and all my friends were drunk and I wasn’t feeling going back to them and answering their questions, so I just left and walked back alone.”

“I’m sorry you didn’t have a good evening,” he says.

She smiles softly and shakes her head. “It wasn’t that bad. I had some good conversation with my mates before then, and really, Eret wasn’t bad company, I just…”

“You just fancied spending even more time with your one-legged, nerdy best friend and his cat with an attitude problem?”

Toothless interrupts his smug acceptance of Astrid’s fuss to hiss at Hiccup. “You’re kinda proving my point there, bud.”

Astrid chuckles softly, continuing to scratch her fingers along the cat's proffered belly. “I just realised that you were the one I wanted to talk to.”

“You hear that, Toothless? Astrid’s just bumped you up to number one on her priority list, you lucky bastard.”

“You know I meant you, you dork.”

 

_and that's alright and that's okay / if I can write this song, I can play that game / and it's all good with me, if I know it's all good with you?_

 

“In all seriousness, Astrid, are you okay?”

She smiles, ducking her face behind her hair. “I’m good, Hiccup, really. Tonight was a bit of a bust but the only way is up, right? Something will come along eventually. _Someone_ will.”

 

_‘cause getting lost in the middle of the in-between / is only half as frightening as it first may seem / so do whatever you must, and I’ll do whatever it must take_

 

“Of course it will. You’re a catch. Whoever you end up with is gonna be so lucky to have you. Maybe you just gotta wait a little longer, but the right person is absolutely gonna come along for you.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

She leans over and plants another kiss on his cheek. “Thanks, Hiccup. For everything.”

“Anytime. Literally, I have no social life. Apart from you and the gang.”

“We need to see them again soon."  
  
“I think Fishlegs said he had next Friday off, and the twins are around at the moment so that might be an idea.”

“Takeaway and stupid board games?"  
  
“Do we _ever_ stray from tradition?”

She gives a soft laugh, then stands up off the bed and heads over the door. She rests for a minute, one hand clasping the edge of the frame.

“Goodnight, Hiccup.”

“’Night, Astrid.”

The door clicks shut behind her, and Hiccup just sits there, staring at the place where she was sat on his bed, feeling the burning imprint of her lips on his cheek, for a long time after.

 

_pink lemonade_


	2. another magical friday night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was originally a oneshot, and then I got carried away whoops
> 
> enjoy!

Something’s different and Astrid can’t quite put her finger on it.

Nothing’s changed in their lives or routine; in the morning, she goes out to uni and he goes out to work, and they come back in the evening and cook dinner together and fuss Toothless and it’s all the same as it’s always been.

But’s something’s different.

It’s different when he asks her to pass him a spoon while he’s cooking, and the brushing of his skin against hers as they transfer the utensil makes her shiver. It’s different when he shifts a little closer to her on the sofa while watching TV the day after, and she feels her heart rate go through the roof. It’s different when she feels strangely indecisive about her clothes, trying on five or six tops where normally she’d just grab one and be done with it, before heading out to lectures.

She finds herself walking home slightly faster than usual, only for her heart to fall when she gets in and she realises she’s beaten him back.  And when she does hear his key in the lock, her whole body trembles with anticipation, a feeling that’s only relieved when he gives her their usual hug and his crooked smile that never fails to coax one out of her.

But Astrid doesn’t realise the significance of any of this. She discounts it as the early signs of illness, displaced sexual frustration, a lack of self-confidence. _I just need to get laid_ , she tells herself one day after she accidentally brushes against him in the kitchen and her hairs all stand on end. _I need to get laid and then I can stop being so desperate for intimate contact and go back to being my usual self_.

And so, the week after her failed date with Eret passes like any other week.

But _something’s_ different.

And it’s really pissing her off that she doesn’t know what it is.

 

* * *

 

The door opens barely seconds after Astrid presses the doorbell, and her face erupts into a smile as Fishlegs beckons them in.  
  
“Fishlegs! How are you? It’s been far too long.”

“Hey Astrid; hey Hiccup! Come in guys, Tuff should be back with the pizza any second.”

She turns to Hiccup, who bows slightly and extends his hand. “After you, milady,” he smiles. Astrid rolls her eyes at the title and follows Fishlegs into his apartment. Hiccup closes the door behind them as they kick off their shoes (Astrid holds back a giggle as he wobbles all over the place in the process) before they follow the sound of an argument into the main room.  
  
“-objectively not true.”

“It is! Look I can prove it, I have the scar. See?”  
  
“Snot, I’ve seen shitty action films with more convincing scars than that. In fact, is that coming off-?”

“Hey, Hiccup! You wanna see my scar?” Astrid snickers as Hiccup’s cousin shoves his arm into his face, an obviously fake scar peeling from his forearm.  
  
“Wow, Snotlout, your sacrifice transcends the call of duty,” Hiccup monotones; the rest of the group chuckles at his blatant sarcasm. “Monuments should be erected in your honour.”  
  
“Astrid-”

“I have chicken pox scars bigger than that, Snotlout, get over yourself.”

“Fine.” Snotlout drops onto the floor and pouts. “Don’t believe me. None of you are invited when I’m recognised for my heroism.”  
  
“We all have better things to do anyway.” Astrid rolls her eyes, setting herself down on the arm of Fishlegs’ sofa; beside her, Hiccup sits on the cushions and pulls his phone out to absentmindedly scroll through his social media. 

“Well we can’t all be scholarship-winning Masters students, now, can we? _Some_ _of_ _us_ have to go and work proper jobs and earn money.”  
  
“Uh, I’m not earning any money,” Hiccup interjects, looking up from his phone and raising a hand.

“Yeah, but you’ve also got your own place and an internship at your dream job so pipe down, Haddock.”

“Oh yeah, there is that…”

Astrid sniggers under her breath; in her peripheral vision, she notices Hiccup smiling at her reaction. Snotlout opens his mouth to retort but is cut off, much to the relief of everyone in the room, by the doorbell ringing once again. 

“Pizza’s here!”

Fishlegs disappears around the corner to the door; a second later the smell of pizza precedes his return with Tuffnut, arms full of boxes.

“I bring the great gift of food, my friends,” Tuffnut says. “Behold, your hunger shall be sated with that which is baked in oil and topped with tomato and cheese.”

“Tuff, are you high? I mean, more high than usual.”

“That, my good friend, is indeterminate.”

Tuff places the boxes down on Fishlegs’ counter in an unceremonious heap, and the friends gather around to grab their dinner from the pile in front of them. Astrid’s box is second from the bottom; she grabs it and turns away from the fray but groans once she opens it and sees the contents.

“Tuff, I told you to _not_ get the olives on this, you know I’m allergic.”

“Oops. Sorry, A.”

“Here.” Astrid looks over her shoulder to see Hiccup offering her his pizza instead, his face calm and kind. “Swap.”

“But you don’t like olives either.”  
  
Hiccup shrugs. “I can pick them off, they won’t kill me.” He gently thrusts the box towards her. “Go on.”  
  
Astrid beams at her best friend as they switch pizzas. “You’re the best, Hiccup.”

“What are friends for?”

Astrid’s seen him smile thousands of times: small twitches of his cheeks in response to the snide comments she makes under her breath (usually at Snotlout); thin lips stretched across crooked teeth as he fusses Toothless; the way his whole face seems to light up when he finishes a project he’s been working on for weeks. And yet, this is different again. This time Astrid notices the way his eyes linger on her face for a moment longer than strictly necessary, darting down ever so briefly to gaze at her lips before returning to her eyes, his smile wide and a little bit… sad? And then the moment passes, and Hiccup turns and leads the others back into the main room and Astrid just stands there for a second trying to remember how to breathe normally.

By the time she’s composed herself, the others are well underway with their food, and the only remaining seat is next to Ruff on Fishlegs’ shitty oversized armchair. Astrid crosses the room and falls into it with a huff, cussing herself internally for being so… needy. _It’s just_ Hiccup, she tells herself. _You’re just displacing_. _Get a grip_.

As she makes to pick up her first slice of her pizza, she feels an elbow in her side and looks up to see Ruff nonchalantly smearing some tomato sauce off her chin.  
  
“You okay?” Ruff murmurs, quiet enough for the boys to miss it as they continue to inhale their food at a pace and trade nonsense comments.

“Yeah, think so,” she replies. “Just… yeah.”  
  
“Here if you wanna talk about it, sister.”  
  
“Thanks, Ruff.” The girls share a smile before slotting back into the conversation.

 _Get it together, Astrid_.

 

* * *

 

“Ironically buying a trucker hat and then ironically being a trucker for 38 years… Giving a dolphin a handjob for science… Soup that is too hot… Having no legs, just toes… A falcon with a cap on its head.”

“There’s a clear winner there, Tuffnut.”  
  
“Yeah, _clearly_.”

“Shush you guys, I am making my decision.”  
  
A few more seconds pass before Tuff concludes “I gotta go with the dolphin." 

“Yes!”

“ _What_?”  
  
“I was _robbed_!”

“Tuffnut, that doesn’t even _work_ with the prompt card!”  
  
“Nuh uh! You can’t question the Card Tsar! Fishlegs, here’s your card.”

“Hiccup, now that Tuff’s finished with his theatrics, what’s the final score?”

“So that means… hang on, a second, I gotta count up… okay, Ruffnut wins. Again.”  
  
“Hey, you guys are the ones who keep choosing my humour as superior to your own, it’s not _my_ fault you all find me so utterly hysterical.”

“I still think I deserve at least three more points-”

“Shut up, Snotlout,” everyone choruses, before breaking into shared laughter. 

With the game having finally drawn to a close, Fishlegs starts sweeping the cards back into the box as the rest of the group relax back into their seats, the first signs of tiredness starting to creep in. Beside Astrid, Hiccup leans forward to hand Fishlegs the cards left in their hands, then settles back down into the sofa cushions next to where she’s sat, legs tucked under her with her feet pointing away from Hiccup. He yawns and stretches his arms into the air, before dropping them without ceremony into his lap and tilting his head towards her. “You wanna head home soon?”

Astrid stretches an arm out to play with the hair at the back of his neck, a nervous tick that’s been a habit of hers for years. “Yeah, I’m getting tired. Plus, I’ve got that essay to finish off tomorrow and I don’t want to be working on it all day." 

“I’ll see if Fishlegs has got some tinfoil I can wrap your pizza in to take back with us.” Hiccup pushes to his feet and dodges Snotlout, who’s just lying in a heap on the floor chuntering to himself about something or other, to pad into the kitchen. Astrid finds herself missing the feel of his thigh pressed against hers and fiddles with her nails in her lap, unsure at the feeling in her chest.

“Astrid.” She looks up to see Ruffnut gesturing towards the door. Thankfully, the other boys are too tired to notice the look on the girls’ faces, and they offer no verbal challenges as Ruffnut and Astrid pad into the corridor by Fishlegs’ bathroom. Astrid’s taken maybe five steps out of the main room before Ruff suddenly decides they’ve wandered far enough and spins around to face her, arms folded across her chest and the hint of a scowl touching her features.

“Spill.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Something’s been getting you all night and I’m worried about you.”

“Oh, Ruff, I’m fine, don’t worry-”

“Astrid.” Ruffnut’s usually playful eyes have taken on a serious edge, and their scrutiny helps Astrid find the words to share her thoughts.

“I don’t know, I just feel this… tightness in my chest? And I’ve been getting all tingly when people have been sat close to me. And my heart won’t stop pounding. I don’t know, maybe I’m coming down with something…?”

“Have you been ill recently?”  
  
“No, I haven’t been ill since last year.”

“Anyone at college been sniffling too close?”  
  
“Don’t think so?”

“Is it better or worse when you’ve been with Hiccup?”  
  
Astrid stops short. “What’s that got to do with the price of fish?”  
  
“Just answer the question.”

“I don’t know… worse, I guess? But, seriously Ruff, what’s that got to do with anything?”  
  
Ruffnut sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Astrid, do I really need to spell this out for you?”

“Please do, because I have no idea what you’re on about.”  
  
“You’re in love with Hiccup.”

Astrid thinks she stops breathing for a second.

“What?”

“Astrid, come on, you guys live together, you hang out with each other all the time; hell, you’ve both basically been acting like a couple all evening, it’s pretty self-explanatory.”

“Ruff, you know that’s just how we are together! Besides, it’s not like he feels the same way-”

Ruff laughs at that. An actual, head thrown back, full-bellied cackle. “Oh my-! Are you actually fucking kidding me right now?”

“Ruffnut-”

“ _How_?” she splutters through her tears of laughter. “How are you this oblivious? I do not understand how someone as clever as you can’t see what’s been right in front of your face for _three fucking years_!”  
  
“Ruff, what the-”

“Hiccup’s been in love with you since the day you two met,” Ruff says kindly, and Astrid’s heart stops. “The way he looks at you, it’s as if you’re the centre of the universe. It’s actually kind of sickening sometimes. And you didn’t even know?”  
  
Astrid stops. “Hiccup loves me?” The words leave her mouth and they ring with an absolute truth the second she hears them back in her ears. Oh shit, of _course_ he does; how has she missed _this_?

“Astrid, you mean everything to that boy. And the way you’ve been looking at him tonight, I’d say he ranks up there for you, too.”

Her whole world gets turned on its head as every single interaction she’s had with Hiccup is instantly painted in a new light. And, oh _fuck_ , how has she not understood this until now? How has she managed to live with that man for _months_ , been best friends with him for _years_ , and not realised that he loves her? Everything he does – their conversations that go on for hours and hours, well past when both of them should have been in bed; calling her ‘milady’ and making her blush; checking that she’s okay above everything else; taking care of her when she’s been drunk or upset; telling her what a wonderful person she is when she feels down; all the little things like letting her play her shitty music that he hates when she’s had a bad day and being her punching bag and wrapping her pizza up in tinfoil so she can take it home – it’s all been screaming _this man loves you_ at her for years.

Oh, how has she not realised that she loves him too? How she seeks his company before anyone else; how she really didn’t like cats before but couldn’t say no to him when he brought Toothless home; how she’s so proud of him and everything he’s achieved? And the last week suddenly comes into focus and she realises that the reason she’s been so skittish is not that she’s been ill, or pining for Eret, or anyone else for that matter. 

It’s that she’s in love with her best friend. 

Her eyes dart around as she processes this sudden revelation, unable to fix on a thought or even on some detail in the hallway with which to ground herself- 

“Astrid?”  
  
As if her thoughts have summoned him, Hiccup’s head appears over Ruff’s shoulder and both girls freeze. Astrid’s eyes dart to Ruffnut’s face, her friend’s expression clear: _want me to get rid of him for you?_

She shakes her head. _It’s alright. Thank you, though._

“Are you okay?” Ruff allows Hiccup to pass her, stepping to the side as he comes forward to take Astrid in a hug. Her heart lurches, and she starts to remind herself that it’s just a normal hug that they’ve had hundreds of times, but then the knowledge that Ruffnut has just graced her with resurfaces and _oh, this is so much more significant than I realised…_

“You don’t look so good. Are you ready to head back? I can call a cab if you don’t want to walk.”

Astrid’s hands sit lightly on Hiccup’s hips, refusing to make contact with his skin. “No, I’m okay. I could use the walk.”

“Okay.” He steps back and looks down at her, one eyebrow raised in a gesture that screams _I know you’re lying to me but I’m not going to push you if you don’t want to talk_. “I’m gonna go say goodbye to the others. Ruffnut, it’s been good, as always.”  
  
“See you soon, H,” Ruff smiles as he disappears back into the main room. As soon as he’s out of earshot, Ruff steps forward and grabs Astrid gently by the arms. “Are you gonna be okay? You can crash at my place tonight if you want some space to think.”  
  
She shakes her head. “Thank you, but… I want to be in my own bed.”  
  
Ruff’s face contorts into an evil grin. “Why, is Hiccup gonna be in your bed too?”  
  
Astrid feels her cheeks blaze red and decides to vent her nerves into a light punch to Ruff’s shoulder. “Maybe.”  
  
“That’s my girl! If you guys hook up, I want _all_ the details over coffee tomorrow.”

“I probably owe you that much. Thank you, Ruff.”

“Don’t thank me too much – honestly, I think if this had dragged on much longer unresolved, Tuff would have literally forced your heads together and made you kiss.”

“Oh fuck, do you _all_ know?”  
  
“Astrid, we’ve been watching you guys interact like this for three years. Of course they know.”

“So basically, the only person who didn’t know that Hiccup was in love with me was-”

“You. Yep.”

Astrid sighs. “Well, I know now. And while I feel like a complete idiot for not seeing it before, I’m glad I do now I can do something about it.”

Ruff steps forward and pulls her into a tight hug. “Go get him, tiger.”

 

* * *

 

The summer air is breezy around them, but still warm enough that Astrid can walk home with her jacket just draped over the strap of her bag; Hiccup, of course, being a human radiator despite his lean frame, didn’t even bring one in the first place. The first few blocks around Fishlegs’ apartment building are dirty and narrow, but then the streets open up into wide avenues with blossoming trees down their length, and Astrid turns her gaze to the night sky as they continue walking in companionable silence, desperately trying to find the confidence and the words to start a conversation. _The_ conversation.

“Hiccup?”  
  
“Yeah?” His smile is so warm that it genuinely throws her for a second, and she has to scramble to find some words that make a coherent sentence.

“Thanks for the pizza.”

“Oh, it’s no big deal. I should have checked before, that place always gets the orders muddled up.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t have to swap. It was kind of you." 

He shrugs. “We’re best friends, it’s what we do for each other. Besides, it’s not like I went hungry.”

The silence extends between them again while Astrid tries to suck up her courage to _just say it, goddammit, what’s the worst that could happen?_

“Hiccup?”  
  
“Yeah, Astrid?”

But she can’t. She can’t make the words come out. They float around in her brain, irrefutable and clear and honest, and yet she can’t make her mouth move and her voice box vibrate and make the words sound out loud. Because even though she can tell Hiccup _anything_ , she’s scared to tell him this. Just in case Ruffnut got it wrong. Just in case she’s misjudged it all. Just in case it ruins their friendship. 

Her feet drag to a stop on the pavement, the chaos of her thoughts grinding the rest of her brain to a halt. Within a second or two, he notices that she’s no longer at his side and turns back; his eyebrows raised and his hands meandering at his sides in that way that means he’s thinking too many things at once.

“Astrid, what’s wrong?” He moves a bit closer to her. “I know you and Ruff were having a conversation about _something_ earlier, and I don’t want to stick my nose in where it’s not wanted, but I do want to help, and I can’t unless you tell me what’s wrong.”  
  
Something snaps in Astrid’s brain at his phrasing, and her frustration emerges unrestrained. “Nothing is wrong, Hiccup! That’s the problem!” 

“What?”

“ _Nothing_ is wrong, that’s the problem, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the fact that you… and that I… gah!” She flaps her hands in frustration and turns away from his kind, beautiful eyes. “Oh, I can’t think straight, this is so frustrating, why did Ruff have to… Ugh!”  
  
“You’re not making any sense.”

“I’m _trying_ to make sense, Hiccup, I’m trying to say… what I mean is…”

Her gaze shifts to his lips, his thin pink lips that are parted just enough to reveal his crooked teeth underneath, and she is suddenly grasped by a voice in her head that begs her to find out what those lips might feel like against hers, and without questioning it, she closes the gap between them and grabs the front of his shirt and pulls him down until his lips are inches from her own. 

“Kiss me,” she breathes.


	3. and does he kiss you 'till your lips explode?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mature content warning - please note the rating change! 
> 
> [if you want to read around it, just skip the block of text marked by ** in the third section]

Hiccup’s definitely asleep. 

Or in a coma. Or dead. It’s the only way to explain how he finds himself in this current position, because there’s no way he has enough luck for it to be _real_. 

He stands and he watches Astrid burn with internal turmoil, desperate to share the burden of whatever it is that’s ailing her, ease her worries however he can, but nothing he says seems to be the right thing and he’s just standing there looking at her and feeling utterly useless when she strides over and pulls him down to her face and asks him to-

No, he’s absolutely dreaming. There’s no way she really wants to kiss him.

He splutters, surprised at her proximity, but doesn’t move away, desperate to savour it for as long as he can. “Astrid, what-?”

“You love me,” she whispers, the air she expels whispering across his cheeks, the light touch of it against his skin raising hairs on his arms. Her eyebrows are raised slightly, waiting for him to confirm what she’s said, the twitch of her eye and the whisper of her shaky breaths against his cheek the only indications that she’s nervous about this. She’s nervous about _him_ , about what he might say…! As if he could ever turn her down, as if he could ever do anything to knowingly make her unhappy-

And then it’s just that simple. His reservations fall away without a second thought, and he can’t stop the words falling from his mouth, as easy as breathing.

“I _adore_ you. With all my heart,” he says softly. One of his hands comes up to brush a loose strand of hair behind her ear, before moving to cup her cheek, thumb smoothing reassuringly over her skin. Something in the back of his mind screams at him that he shouldn’t have said that, that he’ll regret it once she doesn’t reciprocate, but he shoves that thought in a corner and goes back to savouring how beautiful her face is this close up. 

Astrid smiles, wide and gorgeous and elated, and it stokes the fire that spread through Hiccup’s body as soon as she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled them to within a hair’s breadth of each other. “I love you,” she whispers, and he feels like he could cry with happiness. Then he feels the wetness on his cheeks and realises he is. “That’s what I was trying to say. I can’t believe it took me so long to realise it, but I do, I love you, Hiccup, I…” She trails off into nothing, her eyes finishing the sentence for her, and he sees her own tears forming too.

The fire coalesces in Hiccup’s heart and it takes off, soaring as he realises what this means for him, for her, for _us, because there is an_ us _now, there has to be_ , he swears to himself. _There is no universe in which I don’t now love this woman for the rest of my life_. He wipes first his, then her tears away with the hand on her cheek; his other comes up to hold her waist and pull her close until they’re _just_ touching all along their bodies. Apart from one particular place.

His lips hover millimetres from hers, anxious to make contact but desperate to make sure that she really wants this too. For a second, they pant erratically, breath hot on their cheeks, until he finds his words. Really, he just borrows them from her, because they’re the only ones bouncing around in his brain that he can form into a coherent sentence with her this close.

“Kiss me? Please?”

He just registers the tiniest of smirks on her beautiful lips before she leans in and closes the gap between them.

Hiccup’s been kissed before, but he’s also never _been kissed_ before. Astrid’s lips are a gift from the gods – the singular, the collective, all of them – moving against his in a way that is familiar and yet not familiar and the most amazing feeling of his life all at the same time. He’s vaguely aware of one of her hands coming up to tangle in the hair at the nape of his neck, pulling him even closer to her, and he growls softly and reciprocates, tightening his grip on her waist ever so slightly and smoothing his thumb over her cheekbone. Her breath is hot on his face in between kisses, breathy little moans erupting from her throat in protest at the milliseconds they are separated as they adjust the positions of their mouths, and something clicks in his brain as he realises that Astrid’s kissing him and he’s kissing her back and she loves him and he loves her and this just became the best fucking day of his life…

“I love you,” he murmurs against her lips, the words the only ones he can form into something resembling coherent speech, the only ones that can get anywhere close to describing how he’s feeling right now. “I love you, I love you, I love you- _fuck_ , do that again." 

He feels Astrid smirk before she draws his bottom lip into her mouth once more and then _sucks_ on it, and Hiccup thinks he might fall over if it not for how they are wrapped around each other, holding each other up like two intertwining trunks. “Astrid,” he breathes, shifting his free hand against her back – and gasping when he feels the low back of her top give way to her skin, smooth and soft and hot under his fingers. Their eyes lock, kiss paused as they both process what the feeling does to them. The mood shifts subtly; from being soft and tender to something with more depth, more intensity, more... need.

“Hiccup.” One of her hands releases its grip on his shirt to move round and spread his fingers against her skin. “Please,” she whimpers.

Tentatively, eyes locked on her face, he traces his fingers over the skin of her back, cataloguing her every reaction – what makes her gasp, what makes her head roll back in contentment, what makes her hands fist tighter in his shirt. Slowly, savouring the feeling under his fingertips, he draws a line from the middle of her back right up to the base of her skull, revelling in the small shiver she gives in response. His fingers thread lightly through the hair at the nape of her neck, and he leans in to whisper in her ear.

“You are absolutely stunning.” He tilts his head slightly so he can press his lips to a spot just below her earlobe; to his pleasant surprise, she _groans_ at the sensation of his mouth on her neck and pulls even more on his shirt. “Oh, you like that, huh?”

“ _Fuck_ , I want to have sex with you,” she gasps as his lips continue lavishing her neck. “I want to have sex with you _so bad_ right now.”

His response is almost involuntary; his hips buck into hers automatically, seeking friction for his arousal straining in his trousers, and he groans as she throws her hips towards him in kind.  
  
“Hiccup…” He emerges from her neck to meet her eyes, pupils blown wide with lust. “Do you wanna head home?”

She closes the gap between them to touch their foreheads together; his hand moves from the back of her head to rest on her cheek again and hold her close, softly panting in time with her own erratic breaths. He knows exactly what she means by that question.

“ _Please_ ,” he whispers.

 

* * *

 

Something’s different.

And Hiccup knows exactly what it is the second he’s aware of waking up.

Astrid, in his bed. Astrid, lying naked in his arms. Astrid, _telling him she loves him_ …

Hiccup slowly blinks his eyes open to find her face just across the pillow from his own, lips drawn into a smile and eyes crinkled with something he can only describe as _euphoria_.

“Hey, sleepyhead,” she whispers.

“Am… am I dreaming? Because I’m struggling to believe that this is real.”

She laughs and the sound is music to his ears. It’s so cliché; but then again, he is young and in love, so he figures he can get away with it for now. “No, you dork, this is very much real.”

He shifts and draws her slightly closer, relishing the feel of his hands on her bare back again. “Sorry, I just… I’ve wanted this for so long, I can’t quite believe…”

“Me too,” Astrid smiles, pressing her hands lightly against his upper chest. “I just didn’t realise it, but I wanted this too. Wanted you.”

“You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that.”

He feels her nuzzle a few kisses against his collarbone. “I love you.”  
  
Hiccup exhales in a breathy laugh and cups her face with his free hand. “Say it again? Please?” A small part of him thinks he ought to feel ashamed, begging for her so openly, but Astrid just smiles and indulges him, and that small part gets shoved far away into the depths of his brain.  
  
“I,” she says, accentuating the word with a kiss to his collarbones. “Love.” Her lips trail up his neck. “You.” He feels her breath on her earlobe, before she takes it gently into her mouth, and he shivers and allows her to push him onto his back, her lips trailing slowly down from his ear towards his jaw.

“What I wouldn’t give to hear that every day for the rest of my life,” he murmurs into her ear, hands continuing to trace her spine.

He feels her pause in her kisses to the side of his face and she moves round to make eye contact with him. “Do you mean that?” she asks quietly, her face suddenly serious.

Oh, he’s fucked up. He knew he would, it was only a matter of time. Why, _why_ does he have to speak before he thinks? Of course his rambling about a future for them that might not even exist is going to freak her out. He starts shifting away from her touch, feeling unworthy of her affections, but before he can move far, she grabs him and pins him back underneath her.

“Don’t do that,” she says, the hint of a scowl on her face before it softens completely. “Don’t beat yourself up about something you haven’t even done wrong. Talk to me.” Her hands relent with her tone, and one comes to lightly smooth his fringe out of his eyes, the gesture meant to be soothing. He tries to let it calm him as he searches for the words to explain.

“I… I just… I’ve loved you for such a long time, and… you’re just so… and I really don’t want to get this wrong because you just make me so fucking happy, and I…”

“Oh, babe,” Astrid croons, leaning down to wrap her arms around his neck; his own tentatively rise to rest lightly on her hips. “You make me so happy too. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to realise it, but we’re here now and believe me…” She turns her head to press a gentle kiss to his jaw. “There is nowhere I’d rather be than here, with you, like this.”

“I love you,” he murmurs, turning his head so that their lips can meet. “I love you, with everything I have. And I always will.”

Astrid sighs into their kiss, her fingertips digging gently into his skin, and he wraps his arms tighter around her waist, spilling all the emotion he has no hope of verbalising into the way his lips caress and nip and pull at hers. Her hips shift to help her get a better angle, and he feels her thigh brushing lightly over-

“Mmm, sorry,” he mumbles, breaking their kiss.

“Why?”

“Well, you know…”

“No, I don’t actually.”

He just looks up at her, completely bemused.

Astrid sighs and sits up straight, hands coming to her hips. “Hiccup, if I didn’t want to be sat right here, I wouldn’t be. If I didn’t want to kiss you, I wouldn’t have. If I didn’t want to do what we did last night, we wouldn’t have done it. But I want to do all of those things. Again. So many times. And more.” Hiccup gasps as he feels her drag her centre against his arousal, the feeling only amplifying his desire.

“Astrid…”

“I want this, Hiccup. I want you. And if you want me as much as I want you…” He feels her breath ghosting against his ear; it sends shivers down his spine and heat straight to his core. “This can only get better.”

 

* * *

 

 

It’s been five days since the best night of his life, and Hiccup still can’t quite believe it when he gets back from work that evening and finds Astrid dancing around their kitchen with Toothless in nothing but one of his old tshirts and a pair of underwear.

Not for the first time – not even for the first time _that day_ – Hiccup wonders what he did to deserve this, to be so happy and content with his life. To be able to do a job he finds fulfilling, and then to come home to his incredible, beautiful girlfriend and laugh and joke with her while they cook and relax, and then to go to bed together and wake up the next morning with her in his arms…

He leans against the doorframe, unnoticed by Astrid or Toothless as he watches them continue their twirling, Astrid singing softly to the cat in her arms. Hiccup smiles as he recognises the song, an old favourite of theirs that Astrid always puts on when she’s in a really good mood, belting the lyrics at the top of her lungs and dancing around without care or reservation – he usually has to dodge out of her way while he’s cooking to avoid them colliding. She seems so liberated, a stark contrast to the previous week where she’d been down and jumpy and insecure. He doesn’t want to take credit for it – it’s not something he _can_ take credit for – but there’s no better feeling in the world for him than to see her happy and healthy and content, wearing his clothes and cuddling his cat, singing without a care in the world in the apartment they share together

Hiccup watches her dance and can’t help but fall in love with her even more.

The song finally drawing to a close, Astrid releases the cat to the floor and stretches her arms into the air, the back of his tshirt riding up just enough to make him feel _too_ warm inside, his jeans becoming ever so slightly too tight. And then she sighs and turns around to notice him for the first time, and the soft laugh she greets him with, coupled with the halo of hair around her face that shines golden in the evening light behind her and the sheer feeling of _rightness_ about everything he’s currently seeing and feeling, is enough to let the words that have been circulating at the front of his brain for the last five days slip uninhibited from his lips.

“Marry me.”

They both stop still, and for a second Hiccup’s prepared to throw himself out the window for coming out with _that_ unannounced, but he’s barely got through the first sentence of his self-admonishment before Astrid is on him, his face cupped in her hands and her mouth pressing against his as though she could never use her words again to describe her love for him. He knows she wants to reply verbally, knows he _needs_ her to say the words out loud, but the passion of her physical response leaves him without any doubt about what she will say when they finally break apart.

 

**

And then her hands are scrabbling at his shirt, trying to pull it over his head while not breaking their kiss. He hears her huff in frustration as she admits defeat and pulls away from his lips to yank his shirt away, and once she finally gets it free he reaches down and scoops her up into his arms, her legs knotting around his hips as he walks them down the corridor into a bedroom – his, hers, he honestly doesn’t know or care. Her fingers pull streaks down his back as his lips attach to her neck, sucking bruises into the tender skin before she gasps as he sets them down almost roughly on the bed.

After that, it doesn’t take them long to go completely up in flames.

Her hands are everywhere at once: dragging streaks down his back; pulling his lips even closer to her own by tangling in his hair; reaching into his trousers to palm his arousal and make him groan with need, need for _her_ , need for-

His hands yank her tshirt up, but he’s too impatient to take it off all the way, and the second her breasts are uncovered he swoops down and takes one of her nipples into his mouth and sucks, a hand coming up to attend to the other one. The way she moans and keens underneath him only stokes the fire blazing in his jeans, the material quickly becoming painfully tight around him – but as if she can read his thoughts, Astrid’s hands are there, loosening his belt and undoing his zip and pulling all the material that covers him away in one hard tug, and he hisses as his arousal is liberated.

His lips travel south, leaving sloppy kisses all over her ribs and stomach; his hands move faster, and in a second he divests her of her underwear, relishing the dampness he finds there. Her hands curl into his hair, a gesture he’s come to learn as encouragement, and he willingly dips his mouth to kiss her amongst her curls.

It doesn’t take her long, riled up as they both are, and Hiccup holds back moans of his own as she comes apart under his tongue, savouring the flavour of her all over his mouth while grinding his hips into the bed, desperate for some friction…

“Want you,” he hears her whisper. “Want you, now…”

His hands shake with the adrenaline as they reach over to the bedside unit – it’s her room, apparently – and pull out a foil square; her hands reach over and help him as he frees the latex from its packaging and rolls it gently onto his member. His lips seek hers, and for a few moments, the energy in the room calms, their kiss slow and unhurried, despite their desperation for each other barely seconds before. It’s tender and loving, and Hiccup pours his soul into it, not knowing a better way of telling her how much he loves her.

But after a few moments, Astrid’s impatience returns, and she falls back into the pillows, dragging him down with her, their mouths just touching, hot breath ragged on their cheeks as he leans down to guide himself in and- _oh_ …

He tries to go slow, _tries_ to savour it, to draw out their pleasure for as long as possible. But then he’s in all the way, and the feeling of her around him, warm and wet and wanting, is too much for both of them, judging by the way Astrid’s lips fumble round to his ear to whisper “fuck me”.

And then it’s just desperation for him, trying to retain enough brain function to angle his hips like he knows she likes, trace his hands over her hot, sweat-streaked skin, press his mouth all along her throat and collarbones (she must have taken her shirt off while he was fiddling in the bedside table) and suck and nip and pull until she’s keening under him, nails streaking down his back, before pulling his mouth back to hers so she can kiss him, full and hot.

“Wanna marry you,” he mumbles, lips dragging away from her mouth back down her neck to find that one spot he knows makes her back arch from pleasure. “Love you so much, wanna- _ah_ … wanna make you happy…”

“Wanna make you happy too,” she gasps as his hips slot repeatedly against hers. “Wanna be yours, want you to be mine…”

“Astrid,” he whimpers, the tell-tale warmth of nearing completion creeping up his spine. “Need to… want to…”

“Then come for me,” she whispers in his ear, before sucking on the lobe, her arms tight around his shoulders. But he can’t, not without making sure she does too, and his hand scrabbles down between them, fingers shaking as he searches for that spot that makes her-

Her hips arch off the bed towards him again, the change in position making them both groan as the heat builds inside them, his other hand grasping her hips to maintain the angle, the high they’re both seeking so close…

“Love you so much,” he gasps, lips darting down to take one of her nipples into his mouth, lips and hand and hips working in combination, and he can tell she’s so close, _so close_ -

And then she cries out. Only softly, but the sound and feel of her second climax, the _strength_ of it, stirs something raw inside him, and it’s not even another second before he feels himself reach that blissful point of no return, his own peak so strong that he can’t help a matching moan pass his lips, even louder than hers, and it’s all he can do to hold himself up as his mind explodes, pieces of him shattering across the room, until he’s completely spent and his arms give way and he falls ungracefully onto her heaving, sweat-drenched chest.

**

 

For a minute, all they can do is lie together and pant softly through their post-climax bliss. And then Astrid tilts her head slightly to place her lips next to his ear, and Hiccup hears the most wonderful word in the world.

“Yes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all the love on this piece! <3


	4. it's all good with me if I know it's all good with you?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> meet-ugly prologue // shits-n-giggles epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my exams are finally over, so celebrate with me by wrapping up pink lemonade with these two adorable dorks and their friends <3

“I’m just saying, Mom, if you’d’ve _asked_ before you _did_ , we could have avoided this argument entirely.”

“Are you saying you _don’t_ want the discounted rent?” His mother holds the door open for him as they carry the last two boxes into the dingy dorm room.  
  
“No, I’m saying that given a choice I would have preferred _not_ to room with the cousin who’s spent our entire lives bullying me.”

“I thought you and Scott got on better now?”

Hiccup rolls his eyes as he shifts the box of linens onto the bed and starts unpacking it. “Yeah, we do, but Mom, you’ve missed a lot. It’s not that simple.”

“I’m sorry, Hiccup. I was just trying to help out, but I appreciate that what resulted isn’t what you wanted. If you want, I can go back to Accommodation, try and get you something else-”

“No, it’s okay, Mom.” Hiccup turns around to see his mother standing sheepishly in the doorway, and heads over to place his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to reassure her. “It’ll be fine. Snotlout and I can coexist, I’m sure. We’ve made it nineteen years without killing each other; what’s another one in the grand scheme of things?”

“Where _did_ that name come from, it’s so childish-”

“Yeah, but you gotta admit… it’s nothing if not appropriate.” Hiccup shrugs, and his mother smiles, her guilt eased somewhat.

“I suppose I’m not one to talk about silly names, since I called you _Hiccup_.”  
  
“Well, at least everyone who reads it off a list for the rest of my life will get a kick out of it.”

“You know, this is a fresh start. No one knows your real name; you could come up with something else that you’d prefer people to call you.”

Hiccup considers this for a second. Another name. A chance to reinvent himself as something other than a one-legged nerd with parent issues. A chance to escape his history and make a cooler, less awkward-fishbone version of himself.

“You know what, that’s not actually a bad idea, Mom. I’ll have a think about it.”

“Great! Just let me know which name you come up with, so I don’t call you the wrong one in front of your friends.”

He snorts. “Yeah, because people are going to be lining up around the block to be _my_ friend. ‘Hey, look, it’s a nerdy one-legged dude with crooked teeth, can’t wait to be friends with _that_ guy!’”

His mother sighs. “Hiccup, I wish you’d have more faith in yourself. I know how much you’ve struggled these last few years, and I’m sorry again that I haven’t been here to support you through some of it, but you are an incredibly compassionate person and you will find friends here who _get_ you more than people did at school. Just… be friendly and be yourself and try new things, and the right people will fall into your lap. And if it goes further than laps then just remember to always use a condom and-" 

“Jeez, Mom, way to ruin a moment!”

“Sorry, son.”

The two of them work in silence for a bit changing his sheets together, and then his mom gets asked to come down to her office by one of her PhD candidates. She fusses and worries but Hiccup manages to convince her to go, that they’ll catch up tomorrow, that he’ll be fine, and as the door closes behind her, he collapses onto his newly-made bed and exhales in one long breath.

 _University_. He can do this.

-

Taking his mother’s advice to heart, Hiccup allows himself to be dragged to the pub by Snotlout that evening.

He doesn’t mind the student bar, really; it’s crowded and noisy and smells a little bit like piss, but it’s not too warm and the music is half decent and the people he’s sat with aren’t too bad, considering they’re Snotlout’s friends (the fact that Snotlout has _friends_ is difficult for him to wrap his head round but it becomes easier to digest after a pint or two). It’s not that any of them are being nasty to him – they’re talking about their sporting endeavours and their humanities courses and it’s not that he’s not interested - but more that they’re not interested in _him_. Nobody goes out of their way to make conversation with him, nobody’s eyes light up when he mentions his course or his interests, and he can feel inside that this isn’t the right group for him.

After a few hours, he concludes that Snotlout’s in safe enough hands to get back to their room after he finishes drinking himself under the table and decides to head home himself. Dodging the drunken freshers, he darts around the bar through a gap in the crowd – just as someone else has the same idea, and before he can react a whole bottle of what smells like cider ends up spilled down his front.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, it’s-”

It’s not that she’s so beautiful he forgets how to speak. It’s just that she’s so beautiful he forgets how to _breathe_ for a second or two.

“Are you alright?” A pair of bright blue eyes hold him hostage, their concern and kindness evident in the way they dart around as they take in the damage – to the extent that it takes him a few seconds to realise that she’s dabbing at his shirt in a futile attempt to control the stain. “Oh, I’m just making it worse, I’m so sorry…”

His brain finally remembers how to make noises that mean intelligible words. “Uh, it’s, uh, fine, don’t, uh, worry about it.”

“I’m not normally this clumsy, I’ve not even had that much to drink-”

“Hey, it’s okay! It’s just a shirt, I’ve got plenty more like it.”

Her eyes return to his, and he sees her smile softly. “It’s a nice shirt, I feel bad for ruining it.”

“Thanks, I guess. Glad to see _someone_ appreciates my sense of fashion.” He manages to return her gentle laugh, hyperaware of the fact that her hands have paused in their ministrations and come to rest lightly on his chest. Hiccup usually hates people touching him – so many people poking and prodding his stump and prosthetic over the years – but this girl doesn’t know about that, she just wants to help him clean up and she clearly doesn’t find him horrific and-

“ _ASTRID_!” someone yells from the bar and she jumps. “ _Get back here, bitch, we’re doing shots_!”

The girl smiles at him, and nervously tucks her hair behind her ear. Blonde hair, he notes, waist length, half of it tied up in a braid. _She shouldn’t be nervous about anything, with a heart that kind and a face that gorgeous_.

“I’m being summoned.”  
  
“So you’re Astrid, huh?”  
  
“Yeah, it’s a weird name,” she says, finally removing her other hand from his chest and fussing with her hair again.

“No, no, it’s a lovely name! It’s better than mine-”

“ASTRID! SHOTS! NOW!” And without warning she’s yanked out of view by her loud friend, and Hiccup loses sight of her in the crowd as it closes around her.

After a few seconds of searching, he reluctantly concludes that she’s not coming back to talk to him ( _why would she, anyway?_ ) and traipses out of the bar and back to his dorm.

It’s only later, once he’s worked out the shower and dried off and got into bed, that he realises he never got to introduce himself.

-

He finds friends more easily than he was expecting.

The next morning, Hiccup wakes up to find his cousin out for the count on the bed across the room, so decides to just go for food by himself despite his nerves. He ends up in the queue for breakfast next to a guy named Justin, and the two of them hit it off straight away. By the time they’ve found a table to sit at, Hiccup has discovered that he’s not the only one with an unfortunate name – in fact, ‘Fishlegs’ might even be worse than Hiccup.

“It’s a long story,” ‘Fishlegs’ says, as he tucks into his food. “Get me drunk first, I’ll cry less.”

Hiccup chuckles. “At least you’ve got a cool story. My parents were just cruel.”

“Yeah, I still don’t get how you’re a runt? I mean you’ve gotta be six foot, easy-”

“Mom’s six-three, and Dad was over two metres.”  
  
“Shit, really?”

Hiccup nods as he chews a mouth of cornflakes.

“So yeah, in the grand scheme of things-”

“Fish! My dude, I thought I’d lost you!” A scrawny guy with waist length blond hair drops into the chair on the other side of Fishlegs; next to him, a girl that can only be his twin nods in lieu of a greeting and starts picking at her nails.

“Oh, Hiccup, this is my roommate Thomas-”

“Tuffnut.”

“Tuffnut, and his sister, Ra- Ruffnut. Guys, this is Hiccup, he lives on the floor above us.”

“Sup.”

Hiccup chuckles. “Glad I’m not the only one with a weird-ass name,” he manages through his mouthful of cornflakes. “Welcome to the club.”

“H, my man,” Tuffnut says, leaning across Fishlegs to make eye contact. “We _founded_ that club.”

“Fair enough.” Hiccup pushes to his feet. “I’m getting more juice. Any of you want anything?”

“Oooh, yeah, grab me one of those muffins, they look _smokin’_ ,” Ruffnut says.

“Will do.”

The muffins do look _fantastic_ , so Hiccup sneaks a couple into his pocket for future snacks before heading over to the table with the juice to refill his glass from the machines. There’s no queue at all, so he takes his time filling the glass, lifting it to his mouth as he turns around to go back to the table-

Someone slams into his side and the juice goes all the way down his chin and freshly laundered t-shirt.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry- oh my god, it’s you again!”

Hiccup thinks if the situation wasn’t so funny, he might evaporate from embarrassment on the spot.

“H- hey! Hey, it's Astrid, right? Well, I’m thinking I should maybe start walking round with a speaker that plays that beeping that trucks have when they reverse, might stop your mission to destroy all my shirts.”

Astrid laughs at that, and her hands drop from covering her mouth. “Oh god, I am so sorry, I really do need to start looking where I’m going. And walking places at less than a hundred miles an hour.”

“It’s all good, really. Luckily, unlike the average male I do actually own more than two shirts so you haven't ruined my entire wardrobe yet."  
  
"What if I come back tomorrow and walk into you again?"  
  
"I'll just have to start wearing my waterproof coat to breakfast. It's a bold fashion choice, but I think I can pull it off."

She laughs at that, and Hiccup can't help but chuckle too, dabbing at his t-shirt with a tissue he digs out of his jeans. 

"Seriously though, don't worry, juice washes out super easy. Besides, I never got to introduce myself properly last night, so, you know, silver linings.”

“You know what, you’re exactly right.” She bites her lip and extends her hand out towards him. “I’m Astrid.”

He thinks about this for a second. This is his chance, to have a cool name when talking to this lovely girl, to reinvent himself. But then he looks again at her tentative smile and realises that he doesn’t want to start any sort of friendship they might have off on a lie, no matter how small.

And so, as he extends his hand out to slot into hers, the name that passes his lips is not Henry, or Jack, or anything else he could come up with in half a second, but a familiar, slightly nasal “Hiccup.”

She giggles softly at that, but it’s a warm sound that goes straight to his soul and he knows instinctively that he’s made the right choice. “Lovely to meet you, Hiccup.”

 

* * *

_three and a half years later_

* * *

 

 

“When Ruff said you two were gonna get together, I thought you were just finally gonna bang. I didn’t think you were going to _literally get_ _engaged_.”

Tuffnut’s jaw hangs open; Fishlegs squeals in happiness; Snotlout rolls his eyes and Ruffnut just sits there and smiles at them with the biggest shit-eating grin Hiccup thinks he’s ever seen.

“Yeah, well-”  
  
“Do you realise how annoying that is? _None_ of us had bets on that! Sure, we knew you were gonna fuck and be all couple-y and all, so _that_ we could put money on, but _engaged_ …?! Gee, thanks a lot, Hiccstrid, I was gonna be so rich…!”

“What the-?”

“So, what now? Do we just split the pot back four ways or-”

“Well that’s not really fair, considering Tuff owes me forty-five already-”

“I already paid you back for that, Fishlegs!”  
  
“No you didn’t, you-”

“Hey, guys-”

“-consider that a good investment-”

“But that’s not relevant to the money we’re talking about here-”

“Guys, can you just shut up a second-”

“- _I_ got the closest so _I_ should get the pot-”

“But you basically shoved them together, so you should be disqualified based on insider knowledge!”

“Yeah, Ruff, pay up!”  
  
“I told Astrid that they were in love with each other, I didn’t know Hiccup was gonna pop the question after they had sex once-”

“ _Hey_!”

The gang finally stops squabbling, and Hiccup rolls his eyes at their friends, sprawled out across their living room, from his seat in the big fat armchair that his mom gave him as a graduation present. “First of all, I didn’t propose after the first time we had sex, okay? Give me _some_ credit!”

“I bet _Astrid_ gives you lots of things- OWW _,_ okay, I’m sorry, I take it back, _please don’t hurt me_!”

“Astrid, could you please stop maiming my cousin? My mum will be grumpy if he doesn’t look pretty in the wedding photos.”

“ _Fine_.” She shoves Snotlout off with a smirk, settling back on her perch on the arm of the sofa; below her on the cushions, Snotlout whimpers and nurses his newly-bruised wrist.

“Second of all, you guys had _bets_ on this? On us?”  
  
“Well, duh.”  
  
“We’ve known this was coming since about, oh, I don’t know, the day you two met?”

“Yeah, Astrid, Hiccup’s been in love with you for _years_ -"

“Gee, thanks guys, totally not making me look really creepy here.”  
  
“What does it matter now, she’s already said yes-”

“- I mean, you are a little bit creepy, H, but you own it, so-”

“ _Guys_.”

“Come on, you two, can you blame us for taking the piss?”  
  
“Yeah, I can actually-”

“We’re _kidding_ , Astrid.”

“We’re just happy you two finally worked it out.”

“Finally.”

There’s a moment of silence.

“So…”  
  
“ _What_ , Tuff?”  
  
“Do I get to be a bridesmaid? Because I would look much better in a dress than Ruffnut.”

 

_pink lemonade_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to add the epilogue as its own chapter, but it never came out long enough to justify it being published on its own. so I combined it with an idea I had for their first meeting and here we are!
> 
> comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated
> 
> be kind to yourself and others!
> 
> minty xoxo


End file.
